Peach cordial, also, may be made as above. The peaches should be fine, ripe, juicy free-stones; cut in pieces, and the stones removed. Afterwards, crack the stones, and put the kernels (broken up) into the bottom of the demijohn, to infuse with the liquid.
FINE RASPBERRY VINEGAR.—Put a sufficient quantity of ripe raspberries into a large wooden or stone vessel, and pour on as much of the best genuine white wine vinegar as will cover them well. Cover the vessel, and let it stand undisturbed during twenty-four hours; or longer, if the juice is not entirely extracted; when it is, the raspberries will look whitish and shrunk. You must, on no account, bruise or stir them. Then strain the whole liquid through a large hair sieve placed over a broad stone pan. Let the juice run through of itself, without any mashing or squeezing. The least pressing will cause the liquid, when finished, to look cloudy and dull. Have ready, in another vessel, the same quantity of fresh raspberries that you put in at first; and pour the strained liquid over them. Cover it, and let it again stand undisturbed for twenty-four hours or more. Then again pass it through a sieve, without any squeezing. A third time pour the liquid over the original quantity of fresh raspberries in another vessel, and let it stand untouched during twenty-four hours. Afterwards measure the liquid, and to every pint allow a pound of the best double-refined loaf-sugar, broken small. Put the whole into a large preserving-kettle, and boil and skim it about twenty minutes. Then pour it into a clean stone vessel, and set it to cool. Cover it, and let it stand all night. Next day, transfer it to bottles, which must be perfectly dry and clean. Cork them closely, and seal the corks. It will keep for years if made exactly according to the above directions.
To use it as a beverage, put a large wine-glass of the raspberry vinegar into a tumbler, and fill it up with ice-water. Mixed with hot water, and drank as warm as possible immediately on going to bed, it is an excellent palliative for a cold; and, by producing a perspiration, will sometimes effect a cure.
FRENCH RASPBERRY VINEGAR.—Take a sufficiency of fine ripe raspberries. Put them into a deep pan, and mash them with a wooden beetle. Then pour them, with all their juice, into a large linen bag, and squeeze and press out the liquid into a vessel beneath. Measure it; and to each quart of the raspberry-juice allow a pound of powdered white sugar, and a pint of the best cider vinegar. First mix together the juice and the vinegar, and give them a boil in a preserving-kettle. When they have boiled well, add gradually the sugar, with a beaten white of egg to every two pounds; and boil and skim it till the scum ceases to rise. When done, put it into clean bottles, and cork them tightly. It is a very pleasant and cooling beverage in warm weather, and for invalids who are feverish. To use it, pour out half a tumbler of raspberry vinegar, and fill it up with ice-water.
It is a good palliative for a cold, mixed with hot water, and taken as hot as possible immediately on going to bed, so as to produce perspiration.
GOOD VINEGAR.—Take five gallons of soft, clear water, two quarts of whisky, two quarts of the best West India molasses, and half a pint of the best fresh yeast. Lay a sheet of white foolscap paper at the bottom of a very clean keg, and pour in the mixture. Place it in the sun the first warm weather at the close of May, or beginning of June. In six weeks it will be fit for use. Put in the bung loosely, and do not stop it tight till the fermentation is over. If you make it in winter, keep it in a place where there is a stove or furnace.
Much of the vinegar that is offered for sale is excessively and disagreeably sharp; overpowering the taste of every thing with which it is combined. This vinegar is deleterious in its effects, and should never be used; it is made entirely of drugs. Oysters and pickled vegetables have been entirely destroyed or eaten up by it in a few hours, so that nothing was left but a whitish liquid. To avoid all risk from the unwholesome vinegar offered for sale, families would do well to make their own. A keg of hard cider kept in a warm kitchen in winter, and exposed to the hot sun in summer, will become excellent vinegar.